


Nine Weeks

by brightsmile



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: High School AU, M/M, because let me tell you how much fun it is, i've also decided i'm only ever writing in this universe for the rest of my life, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-07-29
Packaged: 2018-02-05 20:24:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1831093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightsmile/pseuds/brightsmile
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Usually when Harry finds out he's been paired up with one of his friends for a class project, he's ecstatic.</p><p>But, this time he's just confused.</p><p>(Or the one where best friends Niall and Harry are partners for a nine week pregnancy simulation project and it's the most hilarious thing to ever happen until it's not)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Nine Weeks

**Author's Note:**

> Let's take a moment to talk about how this is the longest thing I've ever posted and it's only the first chapter...
> 
> Progress or pathetic? The world many never know.

Usually when Harry finds out he's been paired up with one of his best friends for a class project, he's ecstatic.

But, this time, he's just confused.

As everyone else in the classroom scrambles around to join up with their partners in a flurry of giggles, grumbles, and chairs scraping across the floor, Harry remains seated, eyes glued to the paper in front of him.

At the top of the sheet in large, **bold ink** , it clearly states that each group is comprised of one boy and one girl.

However, at the bottom of the sheet for the final group, _Harry Styles_ and _Niall Horan_ are also clearly printed beside one another.

Last time Harry checked (which was actually yesterday when he got home from work late and walked into the bathroom to shower only to find Niall already occupying his bathtub, _"Sorry dude, I got bored waiting for you and I was dirty, so you know hygiene and stuff"_ ), they were both of the male gender.

He undergoes a thirty second debate inside his head on what to do before his curiosity gets the best of him and he rises up to walk across the room to the teacher's desk, eyes still glued to his and Niall's names like he expects them to shift away from each other on the paper.

He'd be lying if he says Miss Teasdale looks surprised to see him.

"Hello Harry," she greets warmly, "Confused about something, Hun?"

Harry nods and though his head formulates a multitude of replies, his mouth seems to have a mind of its own because out of all the things he could have said, Harry blurts out, "Niall's not a girl."

The sudden frown on Miss Teasdale’s face is enough to keep Harry talking, "I mean, I wouldn't hold it against you if you actually didn't know, seeing as how he's rarely in class. But, it's because it's in the morning and he doesn't usually get here until around nine. You see, Niall's not a morning person at all...well he's better than Zayn, but you don't even know Zayn...forget I said that."

Harry shoves his hands in his pockets to physically restrain himself from waving them around and embarrassing himself even more than he already is with his babbling, "Plus, when he comes to class, he usually spends the whole time with his hood up and his head down sleeping because he doesn't usually sleep a lot and then he's also not the biggest guy around so I could see how you might mistake him for a tomboy or something because he's got rosy cheeks and big blue eyes and he hates when people say he's pretty, but he's got a prettyish look to him..."

He trails off before giving Miss Teasdale his most desperate face, "But, a prettyish look in the most masculine way possible, you know? Because, Niall is a _boy_." he finishes lamely, watching the way her cheeks flush as she nervously drums the desk with the tips of her manicured fingernails.

"I am so sorry!" she suddenly exclaims, "I don't know what I was thinking to pair two boys together."

"Wait, you don't think Niall's a girl?" Harry asks in confusion, wondering if his cheeks are as bright pink as hers.

"What? No, of course not," Miss Teasdale says with a nervous smile, "The reason I paired you two together is because of the uneven number of boys and girls in this class. One of my fellow colleagues told me you and Niall were close friends and would have no issue being partners; even for a project like this."

Harry blinks at her, "Oh."

Her smile droops, "Was he wrong?"

"No!" Harry shouts suddenly, shaking his head vigorously. However, after Miss Teasdale jumps in surprise and looks up at him unsurely, he adds more calmly, "I don't have a problem with this at all. In fact, I'm really excited to be able to work with Niall. I was just coming up to make sure you'd meant to pair us together and that it wasn't a mistake."

She looks relieved, "I can assure you it's not a mistake and I'm happy about your attitude towards the whole thing."

Harry tries to grin, "Great."

Miss Teasdale gives him one last smile before she turns her attention back to the papers on her desk like she expects Harry to leave now that she's answered his question.

When he doesn't, she looks up in confusion, "Harry, sweetie, do you have another question?"

"Umm...is it possible that the colleague who gave you this idea is Nic- I mean Mr. Grimshaw."

She nods slowly, "Yes actually, it was Mr. Grimshaw who thought of the solution to my dilemma."

Harry nods shortly, "Thank you. That's all I needed to know."

He turns on his heel before he can see Miss Teasdale’s face, but Harry's pretty sure she’s got an incredibly apprehensive look contorting her facial features.

_This is definitely not how Harry saw his senior year going at all._

 

* * *

 

"Nick, _what the fuck_?" Harry shouts when he enters the teacher's lounge to find the gangly, messy haired man sitting at his usual table.

"I could write you up for swearing you know," Nick replies, attention never straying from his laptop, "I want an apology."

Harry ignores him, "Whatever possessed you to believe this was a good idea?"

"Insubordination," Nick yawn, "You didn't apologize like I asked; I could write you up for that too."

Harry presses the heel of his hand into his forehead in an attempt to push away the dull ache forming behind his eyes, "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"

"Not really, no. Hey, do you have a pen I could use?"

Harry pulls his pen out of his back pocket and all but throws it at the distracted man, mumbling something about him being the most useless teacher in the country as he does so.

Nick scribbles something down on his hand before finally tearing his gaze away from his computer screen to fix Harry with a bored expression, "Now that I've dealt with the important stuff, what exactly are you bitching about this time?"

"Why did you tell Miss Teasdale to make me and Niall partners for the pregnancy project?"

Maybe he should expect it because it just seems to be one of those days, but that doesn't lessen any of Harry's desire to shove Nick off a cliff when he pounds his fist on the table and starts laughing hysterically.

"You're kidding!" he snickers, "She actually took my advice?"

Harry collapses into one of the faded armchairs, hand over his eyes, "Do me a favor and tell me what the hell is going on."

Nick certainly takes his time to compose himself before answering and Harry uses the time to rhythmically thump his head against the wall behind him.

"Your health teacher lady stormed in here yesterday freaking out about the _"disproportional gender ratio"_ of her class and completely interrupted my second lunch." Nick finally says, wiping the glee-induced tears from his eyes, "So to shut her up, I took a look at her class list and said I'd help her out."

Harry rolls his eyes, "You have a second lunch?"

"And a third, but that's beside the point," Nick says with dismissive wave of his hand, "Basically, I saw that the class had twelve girls and fourteen boys, found out you and Niall were in the class, and told Miss Teasdale it would be okay to pair you two together."

Harry stares at him blankly, "Why wouldn't you just pair up two random guys? Why did it have to be me and Niall?"

"Why would I make two strangers spend two months awkwardly pretending to raise a child when I had the option of pairing up two best friends who will probably just treat the whole thing like a huge joke?"

"Besides," Nick adds as he turns back to his laptop, "Didn't you and Niall already try your hand at parenting when you were little? Something about a blue bird you rescued and tried to raise until your cat ate it?"

"Don't talk about Theodore that way," Harry grumbles, "He had a long life ahead of him and I still don't know if Niall forgives me for letting him become Cupcake's breakfast."

Nick snorts, "I bet he doesn't even remember."

"How would you know?"

"Niall is the most happy, carefree, go with the flow individual to ever walk the Earth; which is exactly why he’s not going to be bothered by this project either."

"You don't know that," Harry argues, "He doesn't even know about it yet."

"Trust me Harry, you're the one who's freaking out about this whole thing. I guarantee you Niall won't even bat an eyelash when he finds out about it."

Before Harry can retort, there's a sudden flash and Louis appears beside him.

"What's this I hear about the walking ray of sunshine?"

Harry rubs his eyes and sighs because he really fucking hates that camera Louis's taken to carrying around since he joined the yearbook club, "Hey Lou."

"Hi Harry," Louis smiles, "Why're you talking about Niall without me? You know how much I love to complain about the hyper little asshole."

"Blondie's pregnant." If the situation were any different, Harry would have snatched away Louis’ camera so he could take a picture of his friend’s hilariously shocked face.

But, the situation isn’t different so instead Harry turns to glare at Nick, “You’re really screwing up my day, man.”

“At least I’m not about to become a teen father.” Nick retorts, glancing down at his watch with a bored expression.

Harry barely has time to cover his ears before it happens.

“YOU GOT NIALL PREGNANT!”

“You know, that sounded ridiculous in my head,” Nick chuckles even as he massages his abused ears, “But out loud, it’s even better.”

Louis apparently doesn’t hear him. “How could you let this happen?” he exclaims, turning to Harry with an exasperated look which quickly turns to one of confusion, “More so, how could this have happened? You and Niall are both guys…and I would know seeing as I’ve probably seen the two of you naked more than my own girlfriend.”

Nick snorts, “I don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that you lot seem to spend fifty percent of your time naked around each other or that there’s actually a girl who’s decided to date you, Tomlinson.”

“Fuck you, Grimshaw.”

“Disrespecting a teacher I see. Detention tomorrow afternoon,” Nick says with a smirk.

“I’ve already got detention with you tomorrow!”

Nick laughs gleefully, “I guess that means I’ll see you the day after tomorrow as well! Don’t worry; I’ve got plenty of desks for you to clean.”

Before Louis can retort and probably land himself in detention for the rest of the year, Liam swoops in and accidentally saves the day because it seems to be a habit of his.

“Hey Louis, Harry, Mr. Grimshaw,” he greets with a smile, dropping his bag on a table and immediately striding over to the coffee maker, “I hope everyone’s morning is treating them well.”

“There’s a chorus of _‘It’s great Liam, thanks for asking’_ and even though Louis’s being sarcastic, Nick is too busy laughing, and Harry sounds done with everything and everyone, Liam beams as he starts pouring the newly made coffee into cups.

“I made that for me thanks, but go on all of you, drink my coffee, I don’t mind!”

“Sorry, Mr. Grimshaw, but Zayn and Niall are arriving in about five minutes,” Liam announces, glancing at his watch, “And they’re both exhausted so all of you be nice.”

Harry frowns, “Wait, did Niall need a ride this morning? He never mentioned anything.”

Liam shakes his head as he started adding the correct levels of cream and sugar to his mini assembly line of coffees, “No, he spent the night at Zayn’s so I’m guessing he decided he wanted to come in late.”

Harry’s frown only deepens, “But, why did he stay at Zayn’s? He literally spent the entire weekend at my house; why didn’t he just spend the night again?”

Louis finally stops glaring daggers at Nick to turn to Harry and reply, “Apparently he got home last night and then, you know, didn’t want to be… _yeah_.”

Nick looks up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion at Louis’s words, but he doesn’t say anything so Louis continues, “Anyway, he texted me and asked if he could spend the night at my place, but I told him it’s been a bit of a handful with the twins so he wouldn’t get any rest. And he needs to rest, as we all know.”

Harry, Liam, and even Nick nod in agreement.

"I told him to go back to your house, Haz, but he explained the whole thing about spending the weekend there and said he didn’t want to be a burden.”

“He’s not a burden! I tell him all that time that he can-” Harry begins to argue, but Louis cuts him off.

“But then, as soon as I had him convinced to head back to your place, I guess Zayn was driving home after work, saw Niall walking along the street, and picked him up because the last text I got from Niall was, _'Hahaha I’m good now, Zayn just found me, night Tommo_ '”

“What a thrilling story!” Nick sniggers just as Zayn stumbles into the room, half asleep, with Niall clinging to his back and pumping a fist in the air, shouting, “Go forth, noble steed! I smell COFFEE!” and Harry really thinks he should talk to his friends about their apparent fixation with making grand entrances because quite frankly, it’s getting ridiculous.

Zayn lets out a yawn, eyes squinted and eyebrows furrowed as he drops Niall onto the table beside Nick’s laptop and trudges over to Liam who’s holding his coffee out with one hand and holding the other one up to his face so he can check the time.

“Second period ends in about three minutes so Zayn and I are going soon. Bio is all the way on the opposite side of the school and we’ve got to make a stop at my locker to grab my book,” he announces, picking up the coffees to hand them out before he suddenly stops and looks around at his friends like he’s seeing them for the first time, “Wait a second, how are you all here? Did you guys skip class?”

“We just go here, Li, didn't you see?” Niall says, taking his coffee and gesturing to Zayn (who Harry notes has curled up in the old armchair and is quite possibly asleep) and himself.

Liam rolls his eyes, “Not you guys, Ni, these two.” He hands Louis and Harry their coffees and raises his eyebrows.

Louis holds up his camera, “I’m taking pictures for the yearbook obviously, say cheese!”

The flash goes off and Liam blinks rapidly afterwards, therefore failing in his effort to glare menacingly at Louis, “Yeah, I’m sure that’s totally what you’re doing. What about you, Harry? What’s your excuse?”

“I’ve got English with Ms. Flack and she loves me. I can do whatever I want.”

Nick snorts, “I bet she’d like you to do whatever you want to _her_.”

Niall chokes, swallowing his coffee hard before he’s cackling and banging a fist on the table, “Nice one, Grimmy!”

“Wait, what are _you_ doing here? Is the golden boy skipping class?” Louis teases, pointing an accusatory finger at Liam.

“No, I’ve got Mr. Grimshaw right now. I originally came up here to ask him if I should assign more homework, but then I got Zayn’s text and figured I’d make some coffee while I was here.”

 _Silence_.

Until a groggy – “Dude, do you actually do _anything_?”

Harry doesn’t think Zayn’s ever asked a better question.

“I don’t think he’s actually a teacher,” Louis declares, “He’s probably the janitor or something.”

Nick shuts his laptop with a sigh, “Is that what you believe? Why? Are you trying to get some advice for your future career?”

“Fuck. You.”

Nick smirks, “Hope your schedule’s clear Tomlinson because you’ve just landed yourself in detention for the rest of the week.”

“Anyway,” he continues, standing to stretch, “Your dear friend Liam here wants to be a teacher as I’m sure you all know so I’ve simply been helping him out by providing him with some valuable first-hand experience.”

“You mean you’re having him do _your_ job?”

“Yes, Harry, I am. But, he’s very happy with this little arrangement, aren’t you Liam?”

“I am actually, but sometimes-”

“See, it’s perfect!” Nick exclaims, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare for my free period.”

Of course the bell rings as soon as Nick stops speaking and Liam springs into valedictorian mode, grabbing his own coffee before tugging a still drowsy Zayn out of the armchair and straight out the door with a “We’ll see you guys at lunch!” tossed over his shoulder before they disappear into the sea of students now milling about the halls.

Louis documents their exit with a quick shoot of pictures, managing to take a snapshot of a kid tripping over his untied shoelace, before he looks up at the clock and blows out his cheeks, “Wanna skip with me, Ni?” he asks, turning to the blonde with a hopeful smile.

“No can do, Tommo,” Niall replies, “Already skipped my first two classes today and I can’t leave Sean alone in History again. We’re working in pairs on this massive graded assignment and I haven’t been much help so far and I want to make it up to him. Maybe some other time, yeah?”

“Jesus Niall, a simple no would have worked. I didn’t need a whole speech rejecting me like an unwanted prom date,” Louis scoffs before nodding at Harry, “What about you, Haz? We could go steal the gym class’s school clothes out of the locker room again? Higgins would throw a fit.”

Harry shakes his head, “I’ve got Mr. Cowell; he’d probably fail me for the entire year if I skipped.”

“And what a pity that would be,” Nick cuts in, walking over with two slips of paper in his hands, “I’ve got your late passes because I’m such a kind and generous man. You’re welcome.”

“You’re a legend, Grimmy!” Niall shouts, hopping off the table and running over to engulf Nick in a jittery, caffeinated hug before he grabs his pass.

Harry takes his pass much more calmly, simply fist-bumping his favorite lazy teacher and trading it for his coffee before he grabs Niall’s wrist and starts pulling him out of the room saying, “We need to talk.”

“Parenting problems already? What a shame,” Louis calls after them and Harry’s about to turn right back around and tell him to fuck off, but Louis suddenly comes to a stunning realization and yells, “Why haven’t you written me a late pass, you asshole!”

To which Nick cheekily replies, “Why would I? I thought you were skipping?”

Harry and Niall chuckle as they listen to them bicker back and forth until they turn the corner and are too far away to hear them anymore.

One final snicker makes its way past Niall’s lips before he turns to look at Harry, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “What’s Louis on about? Parenting problems?”

“Let me walk you to class,” is all Harry says as the late bell sounds overhead, “We’ll take the long way.”

The long way turns out to be a lap around each floor of the school and somewhere between the music wing and the cafeteria, it’s like his vocal floodgates open or something because Harry starts rambling on and on about the pregnancy project.

Niall stays completely silent as Harry mentions how he had no idea about it until today and how he tried to figure out if Miss Teasdale made a mistake. He shares how he learned the whole thing was Nick’s doing and how he confronted him about it, but the older man just found the whole situation absolutely hilarious.

Harry then spends three minutes listing all the reasons why he understands if Niall doesn’t want to go along with this project as his partner and by the time he finally stops to take his first proper breath since he started speaking, they’re standing outside of Niall’s History class.

Harry wants to simultaneously cry and punch a wall when Niall starts laughing because it’s not even 9:30 a.m. and he’s already reached his _I’m-being-laughed-at-for-no-discernable-reason_ - _what-the-fuck-i-hate-you-all_ quota for the day.

“What,” he nearly whines in frustration, “Is so funny?”

“Aww, Haz,” Niall coos, pulling the taller boy into a hug, “I’m not laughing at you, I promise. This is just the best thing that’s happened all year, is all.”

“Wait, it doesn’t bother you?”

“Bother me?” Niall exclaims, pulling back to look at Harry like he’s gone mad, “Why would it bother me? This is brilliant!”

“Huh?” Harry manages because this conversation is not going at all how he thought it would and he’s not even sure if he likes how it’s going now because he fucking hates it when Nick is right.

“Harry, what’s your issue, bro? This is going to be so much fun!”

 _Goddamnit_.

Before Harry can reply, the door behind Niall swings open and his teacher Mr. Murs steps out with an eyebrow raised and a teasing smile on his lips, “Niall, I hate to interrupt you and Harry’s little love-fest, but you’re somehow managing to distract my class more than usual and as a teacher, I’m not supposed to let that happen…even if the individual causing the issue is my favorite student..”

“Alright Olly, calm down,” Niall cackles, letting go of Harry with a final pat on his back, “We’ll talk more later, Haz; okay? And jeez! Can’t a guy get a few minutes of celebration time around here? Harry and I are about to become proud parents just to let you know.”

With that, he strolls past Olly and into the class and there’s a chorus of “NIALL, WE MISSED YOU!” that has Olly shaking his head with a sigh as Harry stands there trying to remember how to breathe as a result of Niall’s parting words.

“Harry, are you okay?”

He blinks a few times and takes a second to compose himself before he smiles brightly up at Olly, “Yeah, I’m fine…and um, I’m gonna go to class now so uh excuse me.”

Harry turns and starts walking down the hall, hearing Olly let out a little laugh behind him before there’s the sound of his classroom door closing and it’s only then that Harry lets the smile fall from his face as his mind races with everything that’s just happened.

 _Yeah, I’m fine_ , he thinks, _Seriously, I’m only just about to have a fake child with Niall. Nothing strange about that, right?_

As he rounds the corner, he sees some girl trying to yank a stack of books out of her locker and with one final massive tug, everything in her locker seems to tumble out into the hall as she screams, “JESUS CHRIST! WHAT THE FUCK IS MY LIFE?”

 _Yeah_ , Harry agrees, _Same_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should this have been up ten years ago when Harry first made the joke about Niall being pregnant?
> 
> Yeah.
> 
> Am I hoping to have the second chapter up by next week?
> 
> *fingers crossed* (I might be distracted by the world cup though)
> 
> Come say [hey](http://narryblush.tumblr.com/)!


	2. Chapter Two: Conception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took too long to put up, but I've made it about 3,000 words longer the past few days to try and make up for it.

"Week one," Harry reads, project packet heavy in his hands, "Write a short story detailing the couple's lives prior to the pregnancy."

He reads the sentence quietly once more in his head and leans an elbow on his desk, head resting in his palm as he watches Niall juggle a soccer ball in the center of the room, "Did you get any of that?"

Niall pays him no mind, simply dropping the ball to his feet before chipping it up in the air, swinging his foot out to send it soaring into Harry's laundry hamper.

"GOOOOAAAAAALL!" he cheers, throwing his arms up in the air and turning to smile at Harry until he catches sight of his expectant expression, "Wait, sorry bro, did you say something?"

Harry stays silent, instead choosing to roll his eyes and beckon Niall over with a crook of his finger.

The blonde shuffles over, sock-clad feet dragging over the shaggy carpet beneath them, until he comes to a stop beside the younger boy.

Now, Harry should expect it when Niall reaches his hand out and pokes him in the cheek with his index finger. He should also expect the sudden pain when the static electricity-induced shock shoots across his face.

But, that doesn't stop him from letting out a yelp or make him think twice about leaping up out of his desk chair to shove Niall to the floor.

"You're literally five years old," he tells Niall as the smaller boy rolls around cackling on the floor, "I want a new best friend."

 _"You're literally five years old,"_ Niall mimics as he gets to his feet, running his fingers up through his hair to sweep it back to the side, "It didn't hurt that bad, you wimp."

Harry glares at him for a second before he falls back into his chair and starts shoving his textbooks, notebooks, and laptop all over to one side of his desk to make a place for Niall to sit.

"Gracias, dude," Niall says as he hops up on the desk, "Now, what could possibly be so important that you interrupted my celebration of scoring the winning goal for Barça?"

Harry snorts, reading over the requirements for their first task of the project and worriedly biting his lip when he sees the 1,000 word minimum, "I didn't realize chicken legs were such a desirable quality for the team."

"Hey!" Niall exclaims, crossing his arms and tilting his chin in the air, "Watch your mouth; that's no way to speak to the top scorer of our school team."

Harry freezes halfway through his skim of the grading rubric and glances up at Niall, face breaking into a grin, when he finds the blonde looking down at him and trying to subdue his smile by tucking his bottom lip between his teeth.

"Really?" he asks, "You've overtaken Louis? What did Coach say? Are you happy?"

Niall nods, beaming as he shifts around until he's sitting on his hands and kicking his legs out in front of him, "M'last two goals in yesterday's game put me in the lead and even though Bressie said I'd have been there ages ago if it hadn't been for my knee surgery last year, I can tell he's proud. And _of course_ I'm happy, dimwit, this has been my dream since I first made the team!"

Harry elbows the older boy’s knee after the dimwit comment, "How does Louis feel about all of this?"

Niall starts laughing and goes to pull his phone out of his pocket and Harry lets out a little sigh of relief because he knows how competitive Louis can be, but it seems like everything's alright.

"Tommo sent me this long message filled with pictures of him pouting and pretending to cry," Niall giggles, leaning down and twisting so Harry can see the screen with him as he scrolls through the pictures, "He claims he'll be in the lead again by next game, but he said he's going to get us Man U tickets to celebrate my brief achievement of being better than Louis Tomlinson at something. He's incredible!"

"Yeah," Harry agrees with a fond roll of his eyes, "He's something alright."

Niall crinkles his nose in amusement before turning his attention back to his phone to check a few unread messages he's missed.

After a second of watching Niall focused on his phone with his tongue poked out between his lips, Harry feels overcome with a sudden sense of pride and reaches out to lightly rest his hand on Niall's jean-clad thigh.

"Hey you," he says softly, "Congratulations, Ni. You're a fantastic soccer player and if Barcelona ever come to me and tell me they're looking for the "Chicken-legged wonder" they've been hearing about, I'll do everything I can to get you on that team."

Niall snorts at the joke and reaches out to punch Harry in the shoulder, pulling back his arm with his hand still curled into a fist until Harry catches on and fist bumps him.

"Thanks bro," Niall whispers with a small smile before he lets out a sudden yawn and stretches his arms up over his head, "Now, what did you call me over for? I don't have all day you know and I was just about to take nap because your mom did laundry today and your bed looks extra cozy and is calling my name."

"Niall, are you really asking that question? Why do you think I called you over? Were you even listening on the drive home from school?"

Harry figures Niall's shrug is all the answer he needs and it kind of makes him want to bang his head against the desk.

" _Dude_ , you've got the focus of a fruit fly," he says in exasperation, "I spent the entire ten minute drive going over the plan about what we needed to discuss and do tonight and your telling me you didn't pay attention to any of it?"

"Nah," Niall says with a shake of his head, "You were talking really slowly, man. Kinda put me to sleep, no offense."

Harry lets out a long, heavy sigh and kneads the spot between his eyebrows before he decides he might as well start at the beginning...again.

"Week one," Harry reads slowly, glancing up to make sure all of Niall's focus is on him, "Write a short story detailing the couple's lives prior to the pregnancy.

"Alright," Niall shrugs, "Let's do it."

Harry blinks at him, "What?"

"Ummm...let's write a short story about how we create the baby?" Niall asks, looking at Harry oddly, "Isn't that what it basically says to do?"

“Not in so many words, no. You’re telling me that’s what you got out of it?”

“Yeah,” Niall answers like it’s obvious, “Didn’t you?”

Harry can’t help but laugh, “No, not at all actually, but we can do that if you want, I guess. Although, you do realize what that _means_ , right?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna write about us getting it on,” Niall laughs, “I think it’ll be hilarious. I mean, imagine Miss Teasdale’s reaction when she reads it!”

“We won’t really have to imagine it, will we?” Harry says, picturing the look on her face when they turn the story in and Niall’s right, the whole things seems like it’ll be quite hilarious.

“Okay,” Harry decides, grinning at Niall, “I’m up for it if you really want to do this... _do you_?”

“Absolutely!” Niall shouts, hopping off the desk and pumping a fist in the air, “Can’t believe I even thought for a second that this was going to be another boring, old project.”

Harry clicks his tongue like that’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever head, but then his eyes zero in on the bottom of the paper where it says the project is worth sixty-five percent of their final grade and his shoulders slump, excitement deflating.

“I mean we could do it the right way, too,” Harry mumbles watching as Niall throws himself onto the bed, limbs spreading across the dark blue comforter, “What do you think about that?”

“What do you mean the right way?” the older boy questions, voice muffled from where his face is pressed sideways into Harry’s pillow.

“You know,” Harry replies, spinning around in the desk chair and waving his hands in the air like that’ll make Niall understand, “Write a story about how we decide to adopt a baby or...” he trails off and drags his feet along the floor to stop spinning in order to take in Niall’s expression.

He's not amused.

“Where the _hell_ is the fun in that? Niall asks, rolling onto his back and linking his hands behind his head for the sole purpose of raising himself up a bit so he can look at Harry like he’s gone insane.

But, before Harry can sputter out a probably stupid explanation about how their grades are more important than having fun, Niall raises an eyebrow, crooked smile dancing on his lips “Besides Haz, you’d make a great mother.”

Harry really wishes he had a camera (where’s Louis when you need him?) to take a picture of the blonde’s surprised face when instead of blushing or arguing with his statement, Harry tilts his head and raises his own eyebrows in amusement.

“Well, apparently Miss Teasdale doesn’t agree with you because she made _me_ the dad,” he smirks, pointing at himself before flicking his wrist around to point at Niall, “And she made _you_ the mom.”

“No way,” Niall snickers, once he overcomes his momentary shock, “You’re lying.”

“You wish,” Harry taunts, grabbing the packet and spinning around in the chair to push off the wall with his foot and propel himself over the bed, “It’s says so right here.”

He leans across the bed, holding the packet above the Niall’s face with his finger tapping at the bottom of the page where the blonde’s name is definitely in the **MOTHER** column.

Harry watches Niall’s eyes flit across the page, crease appearing between his eyebrows when his gaze lands on their names.

“Well, fuck me,” he says, corners of his lips pulling down into a deep frown, “You’re right.”

Harry’s about to tease him about it, but then Niall bites his lip, looking so upset that Harry wonders if maybe he should give him a hug and reassure him of his manliness instead.

“Goddamnit, I was gonna have so much fun making fun of you and now my plan’s ruined.”

_Never mind._

"Have you ever thought of moving back to Ireland?" Harry asks, dropping the packet on Niall's face with a plop, "I'm starting to wonder if you ruined my life."

Niall's mouth drops open in shock and he gapes up at Harry for a moment before he cocks an eyebrow in challenge, "When I moved here, I was _this_ close.” He declares, holding out his hand with his thumb and forefinger nearly touching, “To sitting next to Josh Devine in preschool and making him my best friend instead of you. Do you know how lucky you are? What would your life be like without me?”

Harry tucks his top lip between his teeth, rolling off the bed and moving to grab his laptop from the desk as he genuinely contemplates his answer.

“Honestly, I’d probably sleep better and not have as many papers in my permanent record file.” He responds truthfully once he's situated himself into a comfortable sitting position beside Niall on the bed, "You're quite a handful, Nialler."

The blonde snorts, rolling onto his side so he can poke Harry in the hip, "You'd be bored as hell without me."

"Eh," Harry shrugs, but he can't stop his lips from quirking up in a smile, "Maybe."

"S'what I thought," Niall retorts before rolling back onto his back, "Alright, we gonna do this or what?"

"Suppose so," Harry answers, opening up a new word document, "Do you want to type it up or am I doing it?"

"You, because your laptop's got a faulty _b_ key and it pisses me off."

"Alright then," Harry nods in understanding as he watches the blank document pop up on the screen because Niall's got a point, the _b_ key can get quite annoying.

Okay," Harry says, curving his fingers over the keyboard and poking his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, "Okay, here we go."

He stares at the blinking cursor hovering at the top of the very, _very_ blank document and then glances down at Niall who's thrown an arm across his face to shield his eyes from the overhead light.

"Okay," he repeats a little louder, "Let's start this thing."

He looks back at the screen, fingers itching to type something, anything, but he can't think of what to write. So instead he shuffles around a bit, jostling Niall with a well-aimed jab with his knee in the process.

He pretends not to hear the grunt of pain as he looks up at the ceiling and pretends to think about what to type. But, when he quickly pretends not to glances down at Niall and finds that the blonde has moved his arm down beneath his eyes and is now glaring up at him in icy blue annoyance, it's hard to pretend that he's actually got any clue about how to start this thing.

"Okay, starting no-" Harry begins to say, but Niall bolts up into a sitting position and literally growls at him.

"Harry, for the love of God, if you say _okay_ one more fucking time, I'm going to strangle you."

It's such a good opportunity that Harry can't keep from smiling as he nods his agreement and says, "Okay." while trying not to laugh.

Niall however, does not find it funny in the slightest and promptly grabs the laptop before shoving Harry off the bed.

"Ow! What the hell, man?" Harry shouts, rolling around on the floor as he cradles his elbow which took the blunt of the impact.

"Don't act like you didn't deserve it," Niall snorts, rolling onto his stomach and shifting around until he's leaning up on his own unharmed elbows with his head propped up in his palms so he can stick his tongue out at Harry over the edge of the bed, "Now, what's your issue, dude?"

"Other than the fact that you just tried to shatter my elbow, nothing," Harry snarls, "What's yours?"

"That you're procrastinating this, obviously. First of all, that's supposed to be my job and secondly, this isn't even worth procrastinating."

"Fine," Harry rolls his eyes, picking himself off the floor before falling back into the bed and scooting back until he’s leaning against the headboard, "Gimme the laptop."

Niall ignores him and instead moves until he's settled beside Harry with his legs crossed and the laptop balanced on his knees.

"What are you doing?" Harry asks in confusion as Niall begins to type, "Seriously Ni, if you wanna get this done, give me the laptop."

"Nah, bro," Niall replies as he types away, "You had your chance. Now it's my turn."

Harry nearly retorts something about how whenever Niall does something, it takes hours longer than it should, but then the blonde's biting his teeth and trying not to smile and Harry narrows his eyes at him.

"What are you smiling about?" He asks, leaning to the side so he can see the screen, but Niall lets out a shout and angles it away so it’s hidden from his gaze.

"I'm not done yet!" He cries, trying to look menacing and angry, but it doesn't work at all because Harry can tell the older boy is trying so hard not to laugh.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity (or like a minute and a half) filled with Niall mumbling, giggling, and the repetitive sound of the backspace key, Niall nods, satisfied at what he's written and hands the laptop to Harry who snatches it eagerly and immediately begins reading the text allowed.

 _"It’s a Friday night and Harry is bored as fuck because all his friends are out of town. Feeling sorry for himself, he heads down to the local pub to drown his sorrows in the girly fruity drinks he likes and-_ HEY!" Harry shouts, reaching over to slap at Niall as the blonde rolls around snickering beside him, "Don’t act like you don’t like appletinis, you hypocritical asshole. You’ve fucking talked about then in your sleep before!"

"Have not!"

"Have too, I’ve got the video on my phone to prove it," Harry taunts before he backspaces Niall’s first paragraph and begins typing a new one, ignoring the other boy’s shouts of protest.

Once he’s finished five minutes later, he shows it to the older boy with a proud smile.

Niall gives him an unimpressed look before turning to the screen with a sigh to read it aloud.

_"It's a beautiful August night and Harry Styles is bored as he sits out on the deck of his summer home listening to the wind rustle the surrounding trees. It's much too quiet, he observes, as his parents have gone out for a night with friends, leaving Harry alone with nothing but his impeccable music taste and a good book to keep him company._

_He considers texting some of his friends back home, but after pulling his phone out of his favorite pair of black jeans and staring down at the glowing screen for a minute, he changes his mind and instead moves his book to the table beside his chair and stands, checking the time on his phone as he stretches._

_9:30 p.m. Perfect."_

"Perfect for what?" Niall snorts, once he's reached the end, "Perfect for going inside and making some tea before you throw on one of your grandpa sweaters and phone Grimmy to talk about your quote, _impeccable music taste_?"

"Shut up," Harry says, finding himself blushing despite the fact that those are the exact words he used, "It's obviously not finished."

"Well no kidding," Niall agrees, "You haven't even gotten to the best part yet."

"What's the best part?" Harry questions, eyebrows furrowed.

"Me, obviously!" Niall exclaims, "I'm not in it yet. Therefore, this whole story sucks."

"Well if you'd stop complaining and distracting me, maybe I'd get there!" Harry huffs, turning his attention back to the keyboard as he begins typing again.

Niall seems to decide the most helpful thing he can do is lean into Harry's side with an arm thrown around his shoulder and read exactly what Harry's writing as he's writing it.

Harry decides he'd think it was more annoying if it wasn't so comical.

" _Harry grabs his wallet and a sweatshirt before strolling out the door and._..or not, scratch that, backspacing... _and a sweatshirt before writing a note for his parents explaining where he's gone so they don't worry. He then strolls out the door, locking it behind him like a good lad_...nope, lied, backspacing again... _like the responsible son he is before he hops on his motorcycle_...when did you get a motorcycle?... _and puts his helmet and safety goggles on before peeling off into the night._..period. NO, wait! There's more... _at the speed limit, of course_...period for real this time and wow, Haz, you're such a dork."

Harry can't tell if he wants to laugh or cry as he rubs at his eyes with the heels of his hands, "Niall, how's this? If you don't read what I've written until I've finished, I can guarantee that you'll appear in the story a lot quicker."

"Sounds good to me," Niall shrugs, bouncing off the bed after pinching at Harry's cheek, "I'm going down to the kitchen to get some food. Do you want anything?"

Yeah, just get me a ba-"

"Banana," Niall says with a roll of his eyes and a fond smile as he walks out the door, "Figured as much, dunno why I asked."

Harry watches the blonde leave with his own smile a shake of his head before going back to work, using the momentary silence to really kick it into gear.

_Harry arrives at the party within ten minutes and the sound of his motorcycles makes multiple heads turn up and he suddenly finds himself the receiver of many curious stares as boys and girls alike whisper to each other._

_Shutting the bike off and pulling his helmet and goggles off his head, he hangs them on the right handlebar before swinging his leg over the seat and hopping onto the sidewalk. Smirking up at the house, he tucks his hands into his front pockets and steps into the grass, ambling along and smiling politely at those who stare._

_Once he's entered the house, it's nearly impossible to hear due to the loud, bass-heavy music, but it's not impossible to feel when someone runs into him, arms going around his neck and squeezing hard._

_"HARRY! What are you doing here? I didn't even know you were in town!"_

_"Hi, Kendall." Harry tells, or rather, shouts to the pretty, brunette girl, "Yeah, I'm only here for the weekend, but I heard while out shopping today that you were having a party so I figured I'd stop by."_

_Kendall gives him a huge smile and another hug, "I'm glad you did, especially because I expected you to be here again all summer. Where have you been the past two months? I missed you and your stupid knock-knock jokes!"_

_"I actually went to stay with my dad, Des for the last few months. It was nice; I haven't seen him for a while."_

_Kendall nods in understanding before grabbing his hand and tugging him through the crowd of people, "Come on, there's some people I want you to meet!"_

_Harry lets himself be led through the house; apologizing to anyone they run into, until Kendall comes to a stop in front of a small group of people and pulls him to her side, saying, "This is Harry, I've told you about him before."_

_It's then that Harry sees him._

_The other names flow into one ear and out the other as Kendall mentions them, handshakes forgotten as they occur until Harry takes his hand and openly stares at him._

_Soft-looking blonde hair, freckled skin, broad shoulders, a perfect smile, and the brightest blue eyes he's ever seen. He's beautiful._

_"Hi," the boy shouts over the music, voice tinged with laughter, "I'm Niall, it's nice to meet you-"_

"HARRY!"

He jumps, startled, and the laptop falls to his side off his lap as he blinks, trying to clear his head until he finds himself staring up into the brightest blue eyes he's ever seen.

Because Niall's standing beside him, waving a banana around with one hand and snapping his fingers with the other.

"Thought I lost you," Niall comments, handing the younger boy the banana as he reclaims his place on the bed and picks up the laptop, "Can't wait to read what you wrote while I was gone, though. You were really into it, mate."

Harry eats his banana silently, watching as Niall munches on his own snack of chips, sleepy blue eyes flitting back and forth as he mouths the words he's reading and Harry assumes he's alright with what's written because he only snorts and rolls his eyes a few times.

However, his eyebrows pull a mega 180 and his lips push out as he reaches the end and he turns to look up at Harry with a weird look, "Thanks, I guess."

"For what?" Harry questions, his own eyebrows dipping down.

"I mean out of all the words you could have used, I don't know if _beautiful_ is the right choice. _Ruggedly handsome_ maybe or _sexiest man in the world_ would probably be more truthful, don't you think?"

It takes Harry ten seconds too long to realize Niall's joking, but Niall's already teasing him by the time he remembers to laugh.

"Didn't realize you thought I was so pretty, Haz, you're such a darling! Have I ever told you how much that ratty green bandana you like to wear sometimes brings out the color in your eyes?"

"Shut up," Harry chuckles, "I want the story to have a romantic setup."

"What? Why?"

"Because a baby's supposed to be the outcome of what's about to happen in this story and I don't want it to sound like some awful and unwanted one-night stand. Babies should never be made to feel like a mistake."

Niall gives him another long, funny look before he shrugs and pokes at Harry's chest with his finger, "Heart of gold you've got there, Harry. Don't lose it."

Harry feels his face getting hot and he dips his chin into his chest to hide his smile, "Dude, shut up and give me back the computer."

* * *

It goes relatively well until they get to... _the big part_.

They're constantly snatching and stealing the laptop away from each other, erasing one another's paragraphs and writing their own, adding in words where they see fit, and generally just trying to make it as fun as possible.

Harry refuses to allow any alcohol in the story because he doesn't want their actions to come off as a drunken decision.

In response to that, Niall adds in an entire paragraph about how he dances and moves his hips like Shakira while Harry dances like a middle-aged father at a barbecue.

Harry also makes the mistakes of characterizing Niall as too _delicate_ in the blonde's opinion and nearly seven minutes are lost as Niall goes back through the entire story and adds in masculine adjectives at every chance until Harry pulls the laptop away from him and says, "You know, it's really ironic how you're trying to portray yourself as this big, macho mountain man when you're the one who's getting fucked later."

Harry slaps a hand over his mouth as soon as the words come out, eyes wide as he waits for Niall to punch him or something, but instead Niall widens his eyes right back at him and throws his arms up in the air and says, "Exactly! It's going to be the fucking biggest plot twist in the world!"

They end up laughing so hard that Harry’s sister Gemma actually throws something at the wall in the room beside them and screams at them to shut up.

Even writing about them kissing isn't that awkward especially because Niall's using phrases like _tonsil hockey_ , _sucking face_ , and _smooching_ as often as he can while Harry makes sure at least one of them lets out a moan, groan, whimper, or sigh every fourth word.

However, it's after the sentence: _Niall knocks a now shirtless Harry back onto the bed before stripping off his own shirt and climbing on top of him to reattach their lips_ that Harry stops, fingers freezing an inch over the keyboard because hold up, _what_ is he supposed to write after this again?

_Oh yeah, just him and his best friend having sex. No biggie._

"I don't know where to go from here," he tells Niall honestly, "I've suddenly been overcome by such a strong surge of awkward feelings that I don't think I can even touch the keyboard right now."

"Why, what's wrong? It was going so well." Niall wines, "Is it because you don't know how it goes? Do we need to look up some gay porn to give you a visual?"

"No!" Harry exclaims quickly, causing Niall to jump in surprise and Harry takes a deep breath to try and calm himself down, "I don't want to write this like a porno. That...that's weird. If anything, I'd ask my sister."

"Huh?" Niall questions, confusion all over his face, "What would she know?"

"I used her computer recently," Harry explains, "She left a word document up and I didn't mean to click on it really, but I did and it popped up and..." he trails off.

"And?" the blonde urges.

"And it was a story about two of her favorite male characters from a TV show she watches all the time and they were doing…stuff and I think my sister…might write gay fanfiction or something like that?" Harry says and it comes out like a question because he's honestly not sure and he'd never thought he'd bring this up so the answer didn't matter all that much to him.

Apparently for Niall, however, it's a different story.

"No way!" he yells, "that's perfect!" and without another word, he runs out of the room and Harry's heart stops because _he wouldn't._

"Niall, why did you just barge into my room? You're supposed to knock, you know. That’s how manners work.

_Holy fucking shit, he would._

Harry braces himself for some screaming, maybe the sound of a slap or the vibration of the floor as his sister sprints into his room to kill him, but none of this happens.

Instead, not even a minute later, Niall returns frowning as walks back over to the bed and says, "She mumbled something about "calling it" and told me we have to figure it out on our own, but could we please close the door first."

Harry tries to keep his expression completely blank even as his heart races and he feels like he's choking on air because if Niall didn't pick up on what his sister just insinuated, he's not about to explain it to him.

Instead, he grits his teeth and pats the spot beside him so Niall sits back down before muttering a "Let's get this over with." and sending up a quick prayer that that it’s impossible to actually die from embarrassment.

* * *

It's late when they finish so of course Niall stays for dinner.

He's chattering away with Anne and Robin like he hasn't seen them for ages even though he literally sat in the same seat not even twenty-four hours ago while Harry slouches in his own seat and tries to ignore the way his sister is smirking at him.

Even though the soup is ridiculously hot, practically burning off his tongue as he eats it, Harry still feels like his cheeks are a thousand degrees hotter, especially when he makes the mistake of glancing up at Niall just as the blonde turns in his direction and they make eye contact briefly, before dropping both of their gazes to the table.

Gemma makes sure to cough loudly behind her hand.

It's nice to note that even Niall's cheeks are tinged a bit pink, but he seems to be recovering a lot more quickly from what just went down in Harry's room than Harry himself.

But, can he really be blamed?

It seemed like a good idea at first. Neither Harry nor Niall could figure out what to write after their fictional selves were naked and rolling around on the bed together so Niall suggested jokingly that maybe they needed some type of physical illustration and...

All of a sudden the computer was put to the side and Niall was flat on his back with Harry caged between his thighs and Harry thanked everyone from Jesus to his gym teacher for making him do so many extended planks because he had his palms on either side of Niall's head and every muscle clenched tightly in order to insure that no part of their body's touched.

It was actually helping him figure out what to write, too, until his sister showed up and ruined everything.

"Seriously? I told you guys to shut the damn door." she groaned before slamming the door herself and startling Harry enough to make him lose his concentration and relax his muscles so that he fell completely on top of Niall who at the feeling of Harry's elbows knocking hard into stomach, instinctively went to curl his body into a ball and instead ended up locking his legs around Harry and gasping out a breath of air across the younger boy's face which was a lot closer than it had been ten second ago.

There was weird moment of staring and noses bumping together and breathing across each other's lips before Niall's leg fell open and Harry scrambled up, muttering sorry over and over again as Niall did actually curl into a fetal position, arms wrapped around his stomach and face buried in the pillow.

It's a wonder they actually got the story finished.

But now, it's done and over with, sealed with a weaker than usual fist bump, and Harry doesn't have to think about the document saved under the name _history project on obama_ (Niall's doing) ever again.

That is until they have to turn it in two days from now, of course.

Harry's just reaching for his glass of water to either drink in order to soothe his burning tongue or to dump over his head to make himself wake up from this ridiculously weird dream he must be having when Niall turns to Gemma with a bit of a smirk.

"Hey, Gem, after dinner can you come upstairs and edit the paper Harry and I just wrote?"

Before she can reply, Anne interrupts with, "Oh, I'm sure Gemma's too busy. I can do it for you boys instead."

Niall blinks at her a total of five times before he gives her his brightest smile and says, "Thank you so much for offering, Anne, but I really think the topic of this paper is more up Gemma's ally."

_Scratch that, maybe Harry will dump the water over Niall's head instead._

* * *

"Good morning, Harry." Miss Teasdale greets, smiling wide when she sees the thin packet in his hands, "Is that your story?"

Harry nods and grips the papers more tightly, wondering if Miss Teasdale will deduct points for his sweaty fingertips all over the pages.

"Perfect!" she exclaims, clasping her hands together and beaming up at him, "You can go place it in that basket over by the window where Matty's standing.

Harry manages a weak smile and nods before turning on his heel and making his way over to Matty, papers clutched tight to his chest in case anyone glances over his shoulder and sees what exactly is written there.

"Hey, mate." Matty greets when he reaches him, "Why do you like you're walking to your death?"

"Don't worry about it," Harry manages to grunt out, "What did you and your partner write about?"

"We did it separately so I dunno, she wrote something about how she was cheerleading captain and living the popular girl lifestyle until she gets pregnant or something. Mine's just about everything I did yesterday because I figured that's as close as you can get to an actual short story about my life."

Harry nods and wonders if Matty will question him when he puts his and Niall's story face down in the basket.

"What did you and Niall write about? Bet it's hilarious."

"It's something alright." Harry agrees, eye twitching and Matty gives his shoulder a squeeze saying, "Hope we get to hear it. Maybe Teasdale will read them out loud!" before he wanders off to his desk and leaves Harry considering throwing the story out the window.

No, wait. Somebody would _find it._

Before he can change his mind, Harry all but throws the packet into the basket (face down, of course) and speed walks to his desk before he can change his mind and do something smart like shred it instead.

He keeps his head burrowed in his arms as the rest of his class files in and lifts it only when he hears the late bell accompanied by the sound of someone throwing his arm out to stop Miss Teasdale from shutting the door in his face.

"Sorry I'm late, Miss Teasdale," Niall announces with a sweet smile and of course Miss Teasdale melts a little because it's Niall and Niall could probably kill someone and get away with it if he wanted.

"What are you doing here?" Harry whispers when Niall drops into the seat beside him.

"Like I'd miss her face when she reads it," Niall hisses back, "She always grades assignments the day they're due."

Of course he's right and they're told the entire class period is to be spent working with their partners to prepare what to do for the second week’s assignment, but neither Harry nor Niall even look at the assignment and instead sneakily watch Miss Teasdale's face as she goes through all the stories, mumbling to each other about what they think is going to happen when she reaches theirs.

Harry thinks they're going to fail.

Niall thinks they're going to get an A+ for their sheer creativity.

"It's near the bottom of the pile." Harry mutters when he can tell Niall's beginning to get bored waiting.

"There's only five minutes of class left." he whines and Harry suddenly experiences a wave of happiness at the thought that maybe when she reads their story, he'll be safe in the opposite side of the school in his English class and not have to witness the absolute disaster this is going to end up being.

"Fuck, man, look at her _face_ , bro!" Niall is suddenly whisper-shouting in his ear.

Miss Teasdale is the literal definition of "red as a tomato."

She's grasping at her chest, eyes almost comically wide and Harry senses it's about to happen and literally grabs Niall's face and pulls it to the side so they're looking at each other as Miss Teasdale glances up at them.

Harry squints at Niall, keeping his palm curved around the blonde's jaw so he doesn't try to look back at Miss Teasdale and waggle his eyebrows or something equally as stupid and even when he hears her let out a little squeak, he keeps his gaze on Niall's freckled nose.

When the dismissal bell rings, Niall takes as long as possible to gather up his things and Harry kind of wants to toss him over his shoulder and march him out of the room for being annoying, but then it’s too late and every other student has left the room except for them and Miss Teasdale calls them to her desk.

Harry shuffles up to it, hands clasped behind his back and head bowed in shame as he prepares to be sent to the principal's office or something.

Niall just bounces on the ball of his feet, looking at Miss Teasdale with a wide smile.

"This story is unlike anything I expected," she begins and Harry wants to sink into the floor, "However, I can't deny that it wasn't the best one of the class."

_What?_

"You boys are going to receive an A+ for your assignment," she continues and Niall lets out a little whoop of joy, "However, for the rest of the project, if you decide to do something like...like this again, please give me some type of warning in advance."

She's smiling and they just got an A+ and Niall is promising her they'll do just that before tugging Harry out of the room and Harry literally feels the need to look around to make sure the world hasn't been turned upside down while he wasn't paying attention.

"Come on!" Niall shouts, pulling him down the hall in the opposite direction of his English class.

"Wait, where are we going? Niall, we have class!" Harry argues, but he doesn't try to pull away.

"Screw second period!" Niall cheers, leaping up and punching a fist in the air, "We have got to tell Grimmy about this!"

"I don't know if I can get through another eight weeks of this." Harry mumbles more to himself than Niall as they jog down the hall, but Niall hears him anyway and grabs his hand, tangling their fingers together as he makes him run down the stairs with him.

"Of course you can, Haz. The fun has only just started!"

 _Yeah_ , Harry thinks weakly, _Fun_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience. I only had a few people yell at me a bit for taking so long to update, but it probably should have been more because it took almost a month longer to update than I'd promised and I'm really sorry.
> 
> Come say [hey](http://narryblush.tumblr.com/)!


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